citiZEN | Vancouver edition

Here's a round-up of some of the stories about Vancouver that have caught my eye over the last while. It's a bit of a hodge-podge of topics, as is usual with my thought processes...

History

As a result of often being listed near the top of various city-ranking lists [a quick example], Vancouver seems to have a large segment of the population that are little more than resident-visitors. We welcome folks from all over the world, who seem to stay for three or six months, or even for a few years, and then move on to someplace else. Some decide to stay, of course. Either way, I've always thought it was important to learn about where you are, and one of those ways is through the history of that place. When I decided that Vancouver was going to be My Home for the foreseeable future (even though I didn't move here from very far, as a British Columbia-er with deep roots), I felt it was almost like a civic duty to start learning about where this fantastic city came from.

There are lots of great Vancouver History sites, and lots of local bloggers that delve into history to generate some blog content. Rebecca Bollwitt over at Miss604 puts together some of the best (usually with lots of help from Chuck Davis' History of Metropolitan Vancouver site, which is truly magnificent). As an example, here's a post she put together on the Hastings Mill Store.

Oh heck, there's too many pretty good posts of hers to pass up, so here's a smattering:
The 2009 winners of the City of Vancouver Heritage Awards.
Behind-the-scenes at the City Archives.
Stanley Park.
When Vancouver won the Stanley Cup.
Vancouver Flag and Coat of Arms.
100 Years of the PNE.

Another interesting post, presented as a call to action for the present but containing a good deal of interesting history, is Daniel's post at City Caucus regarding Lost Lagoon... which was connected to Coal Harbour a century ago and used to be saltwater instead of freshwater. Daniel proposes re-connecting Lost Lagoon to the ocean. In fact, City Caucus is another local site that I enjoy checking out. They often have a more political perspective underlying the "reason-to-post", but I enjoy the depth in the research and they exhibit a clear understanding of the history surrounding the present situation. Some post topics I've found interesting:
Vancouver Streetcars.
The Waterfront and the cannery.
Bloodied But Unbowed.

The Vancouver Police Museum posted a good article about the collapse of the Ironworker's Memorial Bridge in 1958.

And there is nothing but fantastic things to say about Jhennifer Phabilano at the Buzzer Blog, as she is absolutely fantastic. I have a few issues with Translink (yes, I should list them, but to be honest I am too apathetic and disenfranchised to believe it would do any good at all), but Jhennifer is top-notch in her articles. A couple of my favourites:
The Central Park Line: the very first interurban in Vancouver.
Happy 94th Birthday to the Buzzer.

crazy mash-er | Chinese Communist Party does "Beat It"

This is "supposed to be" a version the Chinese Communist Party made for Michael Jackson's "Beat It" video, when the original was deemed to be to much for Chinese sensibilities. But it isn't. The original artist (of whom I can't access the page to find out who it was) was re-blogged onto YouTube, but apparently wrote "The video was edited by a Chinese masterpiece, The Long March Song Cycle, which was made in February, 1976."  Whatever it is, it's a good mash-up.

crazy artist | Geoffrey Campbell with "Doors"

Doors, originally uploaded by Geoffrey Campbell.

You need to check out Geoffrey Campbell's photostream on flickr... check out the Top Favourites album, fantastic group of photos.

brilliant timewaste | Luckiest People in the World

crazy musician | Robert Tiso

This fellow makes the glass harp -- at best considered in most circles a novelty act instrument -- into a legitimate instrument. I don't understand why this is not a standard orchestral instrument.

First, we have Toccata and fugue in D minor, by Bach.



And, of course, the Canon in D, by Pachelbel.



Thanks to Watson for turning me on to this.

crazy band | Die Antwoord

A bit some swearing in this, but it is rap, after all. Be warned.

Oh, and remember the band Len...? With the girl, with the voice...? This band sort of reminds me of that sort of idea...



Oh, and by the way, I'm always a fan of a crazy artist that refuses to stick with flogging a single horse. For a bit deeper delving, check out Watkin Tudor Jones' dossier.

Thanks to Red for turning me onto this one.

headspace | quote for the day

"The goal in life is to work for yourself, and with your friends."

-- Charles Walker, one-third of The Charlies

[lefsetz] [nyt]

secret communications | drop to the abomb

There have been some things I have been saving for The Agenda.

On the other hand, I love Betty White. I love that in her interview with the New York Times art beat she says the upcoming Hallmark Hall of Fame movie she's doing appealed to her because it's "a deep, deep love story, like the one I had with my beloved Allen Ludden." [NYT] Oh, and not as much fun because the embedded videos will not work in our socialist nation, here's another Betty White thing from a while ago, still an interesting read. [NYT] And I'll vote for Ms. White to hand out Oscars. [bbc]

Pop-up Underground Restaurants? What? They make supper clubs (didn't realize supper clubs were basically unliscensed restaurants, I guess) sound like almost something I'd be willing to try, one day, maybe. On a dare. [VanSun]

It's almost like it was lifted out of Mad Men. Here are some vintage sexist ads. [ichi]

I don't expect to see anything like this on Mad Men. It's an old article, but I'm going to embed the video here. And the season just ended, so here will be no more girl-smashing goodness until next year now. [via]



In case you were wondering: here's a brief history of the Boston Bruins. [nhl] After all, it's going to be hockey season soon, and that means it's almost time to get a larger television set, with surround sound, and invite people over to slop beer and yell at the screen. Or not. But here's an idea that seems sort of crazy, but totally makes sense: entertaining regularly helps keep your place clean and tidy. [lifehacker]

Speaking of, apparently the world is on the verge of a bedbug pandemic!! There are probably people you know that should know this. [cbc]

I still cannot stop laughing about this stupid lawsuit, about the mother suing her children for "parental support", who she'd abandoned decades before. Seriously sucks for the dude, for the frustration of this nonsense, but obviously the mother is a top-notch idiot. [ctv] Can't wait to see how it ends... it was put on hold and no date has been set to resume.

And did you see this: a team of University of Victoria scientists have discovered that dogs can wag their tails the "wrong way" to other dogs. [VanSun]

And this is almost totally awesome, if it weren't for the immediate-afterthought of "isn't this why we're getting away from individual water bottles?" Le Froglet has started producing single-serve wine in plastic glasses! Seriously, check it out: [DrVino]

Finally, so I don't overwhelm anybody, here's something I saw a while back. I know everyone loves the Lady Gaga.